This is the web site for the recitation for Physics 302 - Advanced
Quantum Mechanics. Students from Chemistry 305: Physical Chemistry II
and Physics 214: Introductory Quantum Mechanics are also invited to
participate. In these classes the goal is to introduce you to the
formalism of quantum mechanics and its power through calculation. The
interpretive approach in such courses is typically ``Shut up and
calculate!''. By contrast, in this recitation we will explicitly
discuss the interpretive problems of quantum mechanics with a focus on
the experiments in which they arise. The goal is to read a fair chunk
of the main text and many of the original experimental papers. The aim
is not to solve the interpretive problems, but to understand what they
are, and in which experiments do these interpretive issues arise.

ReadingThe text for this recitation is The Quantum
Challenge: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics,
Greenstein and Zajonc, Second edition. This is available from Amazon here,
and the Haverford College bookstore has some copies. I will also be
assigning reading from some of the original research articles cited -
particularly those giving experimental details.

Meeting
timeBecause of the large number of students in Physics
302, and to encourage participation by students from the other classes
this recitation will meet Sundays
3-4pm in Hilles 108

FormatI would prefer to run this recitation as an
extended discussion. The content we cover will be strongly tied to the
book, and so you should ensure that you read the assignment from that
book prior to coming to the recitation. I encourage you to read some of
the other articles also. If we run out of things to say to each other
we can resort to reading the assignments in class and trying to
understand them together. Rather than try and stick to a schedule, I
give below a list of topics we will cover. We will try to think deeply
about each topic, and so the recitation will go at its own pace.

Article 1 and TQC pp 1-8 cover the creation of an electron interference
pattern using an electron biprism to mimic a double slit setup. The de
broglie wavelength of the electrons was 5 picometres. Not only were the
interference patterns produced one electron at a time, the electrons
could travel 100km in time between electrons arriving at the detector.

Article 2 and TQC p 8 cover the same experiment using first a gold and
then a boron wire to split an aperture into two slits separated by 126
microns, as well as a range of other diffraction experiments with cold
neutrons whose wavelength is around 20 angstroms. The time between
successive neutrons was such that when one neutron was being detected,
the next had not yet been produced in the nuclear reactor.

Note that the original evidence for the wave nature of electrons was
the experiments of Davisson and Germer, and these experiments were
performed independently of de Broglies theoretical proposal. Davisson
and Germer's paper is:
C. J. Davisson and L. H. Germer, Diffraction of electrons by a crystal
of nickel, Phys. Rev. 30
705-740 (1927) pdf

In fact - the electron interference experiment of Article 1 is not the
first - the history is pointed out in this
article.